Ohio Health Policy Review

Governor signs health care simplification act

Governor Ted Strickland signed House Bill 125 last Wednesday. (Source: "Governor signs health care simplification act," Dayton Business Journal, March 26, 2008.) Also known as the health care simplification act, the bill was sponsored by Matt Huffman, R-Lima, and requires that insurers provide physicians with a plain summary of contract terms and an updated source of rate information. The bill also bans clauses that require a doctor to accept all of an insurer's products or that keep doctors from accepting lower payment rates from another insurer. The bill also will create a "study committee to consider an Internet-based system for doctors to check a patient's eligibility, covered procedures, co-payments and deductible." For previous coverage of the bill, go here and here.

Feds add patient ratings to Hospital Compare website

The Federal government has now placed patient ratings of hospitals on a publicly available government website. (Source: "Site shows how patients in U.S. rate hospitals," Columbus Dispatch, March 29, 2008.) The website, Hospital Compare, gives patient ratings of more than 2,500 hospitals on such topics as cleanliness, quietness and communication with doctors and nurses. "Leaders of hospital and labor groups heralded the addition of patient-satisfaction information, saying it empowers patients and doctors and gives hospital executives guidance on how to improve. Most measures focus on things hospital workers do for patients, such as giving aspirin to heart patients. Two measures look at outcomes, data many view as the most significant step to demystify the quality of health care. More outcomes data, including mortality numbers, are expected as more transparency is required." According to Carolyn Clancy, director of the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 61% of patients go to hospitals for elective procedures, meaning websites like this one will be useful since most patients have the opportunity to consider where they'll be treated.

Board of Nursing to use online system for LPN license renewals

Starting this year, the Ohio Board of Nursing will utilize an online system for licensed practice nurse (LPN) renewals. All LPNs who are eligible to renew their licenses during 2008 will receive notification by mail in April along with instructions on how to renew their licenses online. LPNs can also verify the renewal of a license through the website. For more information or to renew a license, go here.

Study: Coalfields linked to premature death, health conditions

"New research concludes that people who live in Appalachia's coalfields are far more likely to have chronic heart, lung and kidney problems." (Source: "Researchers find correlation between premature deaths, coalfields," Associated Press, March 25, 2008.) "They're also more likely to die early, West Virginia University professor Michael Hendryx said Tuesday. Hendryx and Washington State University professor Melissa Ahern reached those conclusions in a study based on a telephone survey of 16,400 West Virginians, coal production data and mortality rates in eight coal-producing states." The findings will be publish next month in the American Journal of Public Health.

Feds approve expansion of Ohio assisted living Medicaid waiver

Ohio has received Federal approval to changes in the state's Medicaid assisted living program. (Source: Gongwer News report, March 26, 2008.) Originally, the assisted living waivers were only available to "people already in nursing homes or those who received services through other Medicaid waivers such as PASSPORT, Choices and Home Care." Now, though, the waivers will also be avaliable to assisted living facility residents who have qualified for Medicaid by spending down their resources. There were originally 1,800 assisted living slots under the original Medicaid waiver approved by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but only 424 of those slots ended up being filled--well below state projections.

Gov. Strickland to host telehealth video resource meeting on April 16

Governor Ted Strickland will host a group of international experts to discuss the needs and opportunities to create a Telehealth Video Resource Center in Ohio on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at the Ohio Supercomputer Center in Columbus. The meeting will be a one-day working session and is co-sponsored by the World Bank, Internet2 and the Ohio Supercomputer Center. For more information or to register, go here.

Medicare trustees warn about future solvency of program

A new report from the trustees who oversee the Medicare trust fund projects that the fund will be "wiped out" by 2019. (Source: "Government benefit programs in trouble," Associated Press, March 25, 2008.) While this is the same insolvency date as in last year's report, the trustees warned that financial pressures will begin much sooner when the program begins paying out more in benefits each year than it collects in payroll taxes. For Medicare, this threshold is projected to be reached this year.

As in last year's report, the trustees warn that the President and Congress must deal with this projected shortfall in Medicare taxes. In response to the previous warning, President Bush's most recent budget recommended that "wealthier Medicare beneficiaries pay higher monthly premiums for prescription drug coverage. Under the 2003 law that provided for drug benefits under Medicare, the president is required to submit cost-saving proposals to Congress if the trustees project Medicare will need to rely on general revenue for more than 45 percent of its funding in any future year." However, passage of Bush's recommendations is unlikely due to opposition from the Democratic-controlled Congress.

Groups protest naming of Nationwide Children's Hospital emergency dept.

"Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus has drawn criticism from a coalition of children's advocates that contends the hospital went too far in agreeing to name a new emergency department and trauma center after a locally based retailer in exchange for a $10 million donation." (Source: "Children's Advocates Protest Naming Gift to Ohio Hospital," Philanthropy News Digest, March 13, 2008.) "The coalition, made up of fifteen organizations and eighty individuals, including the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, Parents for Ethical Marketing, and several pediatricians, has asked the hospital to reconsider its 2006 decision to name the new center after Abercrombie & Fitch, the youth retailer known for its provocative advertising. The group contends that naming the center after the company would send the wrong message to the community. Groundbreaking for the building is scheduled to take place later this year."

OSU Medical Centers places performance info on its website

The Ohio State University Medical Center has placed its death rates, response times, and other performance information on its website. (Source: "OSU hospital stats online," Columbus Dispatch, March 25, 2008.) The hospital is the first in the Columbus area to post this information online, although the other major hospital systems said they plan to do the same in the coming months. In the last year lawmakers have been pushing nonprofit hospitals to include more of this information on their websites. The Federal government also provides access to hospital-specific performance information here.

Ohio has fewer obstetricians than five years ago

"Five years after a law trying to reduce the malpractice rates went into effect, Ohio has fewer doctors who deliver babies than at the height of protests about high costs." (Source: "Ohio has falling insurance rates, fewer obstetricians," Associated Press, March 23, 2008.) "Ohio had 1,327 doctors listing obstetrics and gynecology as their primary specialty at the end of 2007, a 5 percent decrease from 2002, according to an AP analysis of State Medical Board numbers. The overall number of doctors in Ohio rose during the same time, from about 28,000 to about 30,000. Those figures represent all doctors and not just those in high-risk specialties."

The 2003 law passed by the Ohio General Assembly capped jury awards for pain and suffering in medical malpractice cases at $350,000. Awards of up to $1 million were allowed in cases with multiple victims, which can include a mother and baby during birth. According to the Ohio State Medical Association, which supported the 2003 law, there are fewer obstetricians in the state because malpractice rates are still too high. Experts, though, say there are a "number of reasons why Ohio has fewer obstetricians, from rising medical costs of all kinds to the increasingly sophisticated technology used to deliver babies, which may be forcing old-style obstetricians to rethink the specialty."